I’m territorial about having my own work space when I’m at a coffee shop. When all the tables have at least one patron, I head to my plan B or take my drink to go and call it a day. I don’t want to face anyone and I don’t want strangers sitting on either of my sides. Stay home and get a desk? Shut up.

At Le Moineau Masqué, however, I make due with the tight, almost claustrophobic spaces. A free chair at that wooden table with three friends who don’t want to be disturbed? Mine. Room for half a person on the navy blue couch? Don't mind my thighs.

Bubble tea is the official drink of Toronto (no, it’s not). It’s everywhere. Even random shops selling jerk chicken or waffles have bubble tea signs out front, you know? It’s like what water is to the rest of the world – the elixir of life.

It most definitely is when humid summer days come to pass. But, it can’t just come from anywhere, at least not for me. I scoped out Tea Shop 168 and Ten Ren’s Tea (some might argue it’s the best) before pledging my love to Chatime, an international Taiwanese bubble tea chain located near the Eaton Center that freshly brews its tea base every day.

I throw the word “like” around a lot on this blog. I like a lot of restaurants. I like a lot of food. But what I’m really saying is, “I enjoyed it and I’ll come back…eventually.” And by eventually I actually mean “in a few weeks, months, years - whatever.” I haven’t left many restaurants with a need to return IMMEDIATELY. But every so often I’ll come across a place I fall in complete infatuation with. Let me put it this way: it’s the same obsessive feeling you get when you meet that cute guy or girl you’re just DYING to see again.

“IRASSHAIMASEEEEEEEEEEEEE,” roars the entire staff at Guu each time the door swings open and startled-turned-amused-or-slightly-embarrassed diners file in. The only way to top such an enthusiastic greeting would be to have fires soar in unison from the kitchen. Seriously, if you think you know what a we’re-happy-to-see-you reaction is like, you know nothing until you set foot in here.

The izakaya with Vancouver origins made its way to Toronto in 2009, quickly establishing and maintaining a highly-acclaimed reputation that follows it well beyond the borders of Ontario’s provincial capital. Ask any serious foodophile where to dine in Toronto and I can guarantee that they’ll cite Guu as an urgent priority. Believe them. Believe me. It’s fucking guu’d.

I get excited when it comes to anything food, but my limbs tingle a little stronger at the idea of dim sum. Imagine the state I’m in when I actually get to eat it. I’ve been told the curls of my lips stretch to my ears, my eyes bulge out of their sockets and I clap and squeal in a way that embarrasses the people I’m with.